Lawrence Phillips, Former NFL Star, Suspected of Killing Prison Cellmate
Lawrence Phillips, a former NFL running back, is allegedly suspected of killing his cellmate while being held in a California state prison where he is serving a 31-year sentence.
Phillips, 39, is accused of killing Damion Soward (37). Soward was found unresponsive in his Kern Valley State Prison cell around 12:46 a.m. Saturday, said Lt. Marshall Denning of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
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At the University of Nebraska, Phillips was a football standout, who helped the Cornhuskers win two national championships, but for a range of disciplinary problems, he was cut from several NFL and Canadian football league teams.
He played with the Rams and the 49ers, among other teams.
He was arrested at least five times on suspicion of assaulting women, he was then convicted in 2006 of striking three teenagers when he drove a Honda Accord onto a field near the Coliseum.
This weekend at the Delano prison, which houses about 3,756 inmates, Phillips was not the only inmate to be suspected of killing his cellmate.
On Saturday morning, 41-year-old Rattanak Kim was found unresponsive in his cell. He was pronounced dead at a hospital at 11:48 a.m., Denning said.
John Munoz, 24, Kim’s cellmate, is suspected of killing him. Munoz was convicted by a Los Angeles County jury of sexual battery, rape and first-degree burglary. He is serving a 43-year prison sentence.
